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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Sustainable Biofuels and Co-products Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #268925

Title: Mass balance and exergy analysis of a fast pyrolysis system

Author
item OSGOOD-JACOBS, LOGAN - Swarthmore College
item Boateng, Akwasi
item PERRIGREEN, CARLSON - Swarthmore College
item Mullen, Charles
item MACKEN, NELSON - Swarthmore College

Submitted to: American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/22/2011
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Mass balance closure and exergetic efficiency is evaluated for a bench scale fast pyrolysis system. The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has developed this system for processing energy crops and agricultural residues for bio-oil (pyrolysis oil or pyrolysis liquids) production. Mass balance closure cannot be achieved due to the system size and complexity of inputs and outputs. A linear programming optimization model has been developed to use the experimental data to achieve improved closure of elemental balances without losing the overall representation of the pyrolysis products. Having improved the mass balance, it is then possible to evaluate the exergy of the system. Exergy flows are computed using statistical relationships and other standard techniques. Computational details and results are discussed for switchgrass, a typical candidate biomass.